Electric-conductor molding.



PATENTED SEPT. 24, 190'7.

S. M. BURK. ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR MOLDING.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 9, 1906.

reception of the conductors. are shown as 'being undercut, while others are shown.

SIDNEY M. BURK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ELE CTRIC-CONDUCTOR MIOLDIN G.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 24, 190 7.

Application filed February 9, 1906. Serial No- 3OO,329.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it knownthat I, SIDNEY M. BURK, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric- Conductor Moldings, of which the following is a specification.

My-invention relates-to an improvement in electric conductor moldings employed in buildings and other structures for the purpose of supporting the electrical conductor wires.

I have shown my invention as applied to molding consisting of wooden strips of suitable dimensions, having longitudinal channels provided therein for the Some of these channels in which ,the side walls thereof are parallel, and still others are shown in which the side walls are divergent from the bottom of the channel outward.

In the process of inserting electrical conductor wires into the channels, it frequently happens that a conductor is of greater diameter than the width of the channel or the mouth of thesame. It is desirable that means be provided whereby either one or both of the side walls of the channels may be permitted to move slightly back and forth in order that the transverse dimension of the channel maybe adjusted more or less for the purpose of. accommodating a conductor of slightly greater diameter than that of the channels themselves, or, if the channels be undercut, greater than the mouths thereof. For this purpose, I have provided grooves adjacent to the sides of the channels, leaving a relatively thin portion of material between the channels and the grooves. This'thin portion of material between the channels and grooves possesses more or less flexibility, and by moving it away from the wire holding or conductor channels, the latter may be somewhat enlarged.

Broadly speaking, my invention resides in the provision of means of whatever character for enabling or permitting the movement of one or both walls of the electric wire conductor channels outwardly whereby a wire of greater diameter than the said channels or of greater diameter than the mouths of said channels (it they be undercut) may be inserted without injury or detriment to the wire. Without such provision, if a wire is forced or driven into a channel, as is sometimes done, there is very great liability of its being injured by the breaking of the non-conducting material surrounding the conducting wire, which would endanger the safety of the structure in which such wire might be located.

In order that my invention may beniore' readily understood, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure l is a top plan view of a portion of molding provided with my invention; Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, showing undercut channels for supporting the electrical conductor and showing grooves located upon one side of each of. the wire holding or supporting channels; Fig. 3 is a section of wire molding showing undercut and wire holding or supporting channels, and showing grooves located adjacent to and upon opposite sides of each of the said wire holding channels; Fig. 4 is a section showing wire holding channels, the walls of which diverge outwardly from the bottom of the said channels, and showing channels located adjacent to and upon one side of each of the said wire holding channels: Fig. 5 is a section similar to Fig. 4, but in which the walls of the wire supporting or holding channels are vertical with respect to the plane of the molding: and Fig. 6 is a sectional view of a strip of molding in which the channels are inclined to the plane of the said strip.

In the drawings,l designates a portion of molding having electrical conductor holding or supporting channels therein, which channels are undercut, as indicated in Fig. 2. Upon one side of each of the said channels, I have provided a groove 3. The said grooves 3 are located respectively near one side of the channels 2,

so that between either of the said grooves 3 and an adjacent wire supporting or holding channel 2, a narrow strip ortongue4 is produced, which is more or less flexible. 1y reason of the flexibility or bendable nature of these strips 4, it will be understood that when it is desired to insert a wire into one of the said channels 2, which is of greater diameter than the distance between the upper edges of the channels 2, the said strips of material 4 will readily spring outwardly so that such wire or wires may be introduced without the employment of sufficient force or pressure to injure in any way the non-conducting coating surrounding the wires.

In Fig. 3, I have shown a similar construction, GXVPPC that in addition to the grooves 3, I have also provided grooves 6, upon the outside of the wire supporting channels 2. I l- We shown these grooves 6 as inclined slightly outward as they extend into the molding, but this is not necessary, as many, if not all, of the advantages of my invention may be obtained and secured by hafing'such grooves vertical with respect to the plane of the molding, as is the case with the grooves 3.

In Fig. 4, I have shown a construction in which the side walls 01' the electric wire supporting channels 8 diverge outwardly from the bottom of the channels. Adjacent to one side of each of these channels, I have provided the grooves 9, the purpose and object. of which are the same as already stated in connection with Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings.

In Fig. 5, I have shown a construction of molding in which the side walls of the electric wire supporting or holding channels I0 are parallel to each other and are vertical with respect to the plane of the molding in which such channels have been cut, and adjacent to one side of each of these channels 10 I haveprovided the grooves 11, the purpose of which is to provide (as in the case of the preceding construction) narrow strips of material which may be said to constitute one wall of each of the channels 10, whereby said wall may be moved outwardly to widen the space within the channels 10.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a construction in which the electric wire holding channels 15 and also the narrow grooves 16 adjacent thereto are inclined to the plane of the strip of molding 1. The inclination of the channels 15 in the manner indicated is of special advantage when it is desired to extend an electric conductor horizontally along a vertical wall. In this case, if the molding is placed so thatthfe channels 15 open or extend upwardly, it will be seen that-a wire placed therein is not likely to be removed accidentally. I

Each of the grooves 3, Band 9 are relatively narrow, but it is to be understood that theirwidth may he in; creased or diminished without departing from my invention. a

Although I have shown channels having cross-sectional areas of various contours, it will be understood that the principle of my invention is the same in all of the different constructions. It is the object of my invention, broadly considered, as will be understood from a perusal and study of the drawings, to provide a construction in which means is provided whereby either or both side walls of a wire holding channel may be pushed or moved out to enlarge or increase the crosssectional area of such channel.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. An electric conductor molding, having a channel for the receipt of an electric conductor and being provided with means whereby the cross-sectional area of such chan nel may be varied.

2. An electric conductor molding having a channel for the reception of a conductor and a groove situated uponone side of and near enough to the said channel to form a flexible strip or tongue between the channel and groove.

An electric conductor molding having a channel provided therein for the reception of an electric conductor and also having grooves situated upon opposite sides of and near enough to the said channel to form flexible strips or tongues between the channel and the grooves.

4. An electric conductor molding having channels provided therein for the reception of electric conductors and having-grooves located upon each side of each of the said channelswhereby flexible strips of the material of the molding are produced so that the crosssectional area of the said channels may be varied at will.

5. A supporting device for an electric conductor having a channel and a groove forming therewith a flexible side SIDNEY M. BURK.

In the presence of HARRY F. AMBLER, LAURA KLEINFELDER. 

